Canopy Growth Corporation this week received a license from New York State to process and produce hemp. This comes after the late-2018 federal passage of a major farm bill that allowed production of low-THC cannabis (under 0.3%.). This law effectively legalized the CBD market in America.

The Canadian company will enter New York as part of the state’s Hemp Research Pilot Program. Canopy Growth intends to invest between $100-$150 million in its New York operations, capable of producing tons of hemp extract on an annual basis.

“In New York we see an opportunity to create products that improve people’s lives,” says Bruce Linton, chairman and co-CEO, Canopy Growth. “In the process, we will create jobs in an exciting, highly profitable new industry. I applaud the political leadership at the federal and state level that has allowed today’s announcement to become reality.”

Canopy Growth is a large-scale extractor with specific experience producing standardized medical products. Its production processes have achieved GMP certification, the global standard for pharmaceutical production, at its Canadian headquarters in Smiths Falls, Ontario.

The Company is in the process of evaluating a number of sites in the Southern Tier of New York, which will become one of its first extraction and processing facilities outside Canada. The company intends to announce the specific location within 100 days.

Canopy Growth will be the anchor business in the state’s broader Hemp Industrial Park, where third parties can join a hemp ecosystem focused on every potential application of the hemp crop, from fiber, to seed, to cannabinoids.

Canopy Growth will source hemp exclusively from American farmers for its American operations once up and running, the company says.